Firefighters union calls Stoughton 'the most unpatriotic town in America'

Friday

Feb 29, 2008 at 12:01 AMFeb 29, 2008 at 6:59 PM

Firefighters call Stoughton unpatriotic Firefighters and Stoughton officials are battling over benefits for a fire captain serving in Iraq. Town officials say the union is being greedy. Union officials call the town the most unpatriotic town in the country.

The Patriot Ledger

Firefighters say Stoughton is being cheap and unpatriotic and is stiffing a fire captain serving with the Air National Guard in Iraq. But selectmen say the firefighters and their union are being greedy and are distorting the facts to make the town look bad.

The town has agreed to pay Fire Capt. Doug Campbell, 45, the difference between his $63,000 a year firefighter salary and what he’s making on active duty in the military – a difference of about $16,000. Campbell and his family continue to be covered by the town’s health insurance plan and he continues to receive other benefits as if he were on the job back in Stoughton. He was deployed last month.

But firefighters union officials are calling Stoughton “the most unpatriotic town in America” and planned to rally at the VFW post on Washington Street at noon today.

They say the town is dragging out negotiations over Campbell’s benefits.

Peter Denneno, president of the Stoughton firefighters union, said firefighters have been working Campbell’s shifts – without getting paid for it – so that Campbell won’t lose vacation days.

“The town wants you to believe they are taking care of him and they’re not,” Denneno said.

Town Manager Mark Stankiewicz said today that firefighters wouldn’t have to cover shifts for Campbell if they didn’t insist that he continue to collect on such perks as a dry-cleaning allowance and bonuses for not calling in sick.

“We don’t feel we should be paying for extra perks. It is inappropriate in this situation,” Stankiewicz said.

Denneno said the union has not insisted on perks for Campbell.

Campbell has been a Stoughton firefighter for 18 years. In 1992, he asked the town to continue paying his salary when he was deployed with the National Guard. But town meeting said no, arguing that doing so would force the town to pay any firefighter who worked Campbell’s shifts overtime pay.